A Hidden Thermal Spring In Northern Greece

After fleeing the cold and harsh winter of Romania for the promise of sunshine in Greece, we spent our first few days on a beach with a mix of sunshine and rain (still much warmer than Romania). We donned shorts and suncream for the first time since leaving France many months ago. Our plan in Greece was to head south in search of sunshine.

After driving down the Greek National Road for an hour, we saw an old and wonky sign for thermal springs. Taking a break from our planned route, we decided to follow the sign and after a short drive down a winding road, which had clearly not been used for some time as it had trees and shrubs growing from it, we were greeted by crumbling and abandoned buildings with no signs of life apart from four stray dogs.

In total there were about twenty decaying buildings in the form of an abandoned health resort or village centered on tourism. All the buildings were covered in graffiti. We parked the van and looked for any signs of a thermal spring. We followed a fast flowing stream through the trees and were greeted by a pool of clear, hot water naturally heated by the earth. After 8 months without a bath, the pool looked very inviting. We headed back to the van, grabbed some towels and stripped down before slipping in to the pool. It was a great feeling, on a fairly cool day, to submerge ourselves in hot, bubbling water.

We have stumbled across some cool places travelling but this was quite possibly the coolest!

After spending around an hour in the pool, we decided to explore the abandoned buildings. Inside there were rows of baths, clearly filled by the thermal water from the earth. There was one bath at the end of a dark damp corridor that was still being filled by a constant flow of hot water. No Shampoo Allowed!

Discovering this pool in Greece reinforced our belief that you should always make time to stray from your planned routes and itinerary when travelling as you could find something very special!